The present invention relates to an attachable paint can lid replacement. More particularly, the present invention relates to a removable paint can extension member and attachable cover having a filter, cover lid, and pour spout.
For quite some time painters have sought ways to eliminate messiness and other problems associated with painting. One of the longstanding problems associated with painting is that once a container filled with liquid paint is opened it is practically impossible to stir its contents or add other product enhancements, such as pigments or thinners, without causing the paint to flow over the sides of the container. The common acts of wiping excess paint from a brush against the container rim or pouring paint directly from the original container also causes such undesirable overflow. Paint overflow onto the sides of the container often renders the product label unreadable, preventing the user from reading the instructions and correctly identifying the qualities of the paint. Information that may be rendered unreadable includes product name, color identification, application requirements, drying and recoat times, the correct solvents to use for thinning or cleaning, and disposal information and warnings.
Many paint containers have a grooved rim which facilitates the airtight closure and removal of the container's lid. However, paint overflow sometimes fills this groove, requiring the inconvenient cleaning of the rim after painting. If the rim is not thoroughly cleaned after use, it becomes practically impossible to reseal the container in an airtight fashion with its original lid as the lid sits on a layer of paint instead of properly fitting within the groove. The inability to properly reseal the original container causes the deterioration or evaporation of the liquid paint product over time, resulting in the discarding of partially emptied paint containers.
Paint containers, particularly previously opened containers, often contain impurities from a variety of sources including improper mixing, foreign objects, dried paint product that has accumulated on the rim and fallen back into the container, or paint product that has hardened by "skimming over" because the container was previously sealed in a non-airtight manner. Painters often wish to pour clean filtered paint product into secondary containers such as roller trays or the holding tanks of pressure spraying equipment for non-brushing applications. No neat and practical way exists for the filtering of impurities from liquid paint products in situations where the user wishes to filter out such impurities while pouring the paint product directly from its original container into secondary receiving containers. Nor does any such convenient method for reclaiming the usable portion of contaminated paint from previously opened containers exist.
Currently, the user must pour the paint from the original container through either a rigid cone-shaped or a flexible fabric filter. The cone-shaped filters must be strategically placed and are prone to tip or fall away resulting not only in wasted paint, but also raising a concern of the purity of the paint in the receiving container. Fabric filters can be stretched so as to fit over their receiving containers, but they must then be manually lifted from the receiving containers in order to function. Since a fabric filter must be handheld over the receiving container for the duration of the filtration process, the tendency is for the painter to speed up the filtration process by squeezing the filter which is a very messy undertaking. Further, both of the above mentioned filtration methods requires the messy disposal of the filtration devices after use.
Moreover, painters often apply paint by dipping a brush and then swiping excess paint from said brush against the rim of the original paint container. During this period of use, paint accumulating in or around the rim of the container can dry or become tacky. The dried or tacky particles of paint then diminish the quality of the painting application when transferred to the painted surface by the bristles of the brush. No device currently provides for the collection and easy disbursement of this unwanted accumulation of dried or tacky paint.
Further, painters may want to pour the unused portions of paint remaining in secondary containers back into their original containers after use, or they may want to divide or save portions of paint from larger containers to be stored in smaller standardly sized containers for convenience. Again, no device for the purpose of neatly channeling unused portions of paint back into standardly sized containers currently exists.
Therefore, what is needed is a device which increases the effective capacity of the original container so that a painter may add and stir additives and which simply installs onto a paint container and which prevents paint product from overflowing and seeping into the rim and over the sides of the paint container. Also, what is needed is a device which is able to neatly and conveniently pour and filter liquid paint products, reclaim the usable portions of contaminated paint from previously opened containers, and which also includes a leakproof cover for temporary storage. Further, what is needed is a device that serves as a temporary collector of the unwanted accumulation of dried or tacky paint where such device can be easily and conveniently removed as often as necessary to be cleaned and thereby enhance the quality of painting applications. Lastly, a device for allowing unused portions of paint from secondary containers to be neatly channeled back into their original, or other standardly sized containers, is also needed. The present invention fulfills these needs and provides other related advantages.